Stop Applying Induced Demand to Housing!

As Canada’s most populous province considers tunneling a new highway underneath the existing Highway 401, one of the busiest in the world reaching up to 18 lanes wide, we want to tackle a related argument against housing: “The same [urbanists] who say ‘just build more lanes’ is doomed to fail never see that ‘just build more units’ is doomed for the same reason.” This is a reference to induced demand or induced traffic, a concept that describes how new roads or lanes tend to fill up and not help congestion as much as promised or at all. In the short term, people take more trips by car and are less careful about avoiding rush hour. In the medium term, people and businesses see the new road capacity and move to the area to use it. The question critics are asking then is that if building more roads is futile, doesn’t the same apply to housing?

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References:

Tom Tom Traffic Index: https://www.tomtom.com/traffic-index/...
History of bikes: https://labouringallourlives.ca/i-wan...
LED light bulbs: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A...